Acknowledging Divine Protection

I had a dream the other night about a lion.  I was in a jungle setting.  The leaves and trees were tall and thick and hovering around a clearing.  The creature was a large Black African lion with a beautiful mane, roaring several times to impress.  As the lion walked toward me with an intention that I didn’t care for, I backed up toward a stone wall covered in vines and flowers of the jungle.  There was no where else for me to go.  I had to do something.  The thought came to me to quiet the animal and calm the situation through singing a hymn that I have sung since I was a child.  It starts out, “Father, we thy loving children, lift our hearts in joy today.  Knowing well that thou wilt keep us ever in thy blessed way.”  

Immediately, as I sang, the lion lay down where he had been standing with such aggression.  He stopped roaring and became relaxed.  He began licking his front legs and paws as if I wasn’t even there anymore.  I remember feeling that it had been my expectation that the lion would respond as he did and that my safety was secure. 

But it wasn’t just about me.  My expectation of harmony was also directed toward the lion.  It was my intention to demonstrate both of us out of danger.  I remember being grateful in the dream for that instant message when I needed it.  And that it provided a solution for the whole picture.

Now, it’s not that I have a great voice, as my children will attest, so it wasn’t the soothing, mesmerizing sound that lulled the lion into complacency. It was the Spirit of the Christ message that goes beyond human reasoning to heal.  I was inspired to use this message to apply it to challenges that I face in my day.  To respond with a higher sense of Love, rather than react adversely, with fear or intimidation.  To expect an answer would be provided and that I would never be left to figure it out without the love and support of Divine Love.  God doesn’t leave his children defenseless.  Knowing that his love for all his creation is intact and universal and is stronger than anything else is protection.  

Like the story in the Bible of Daniel in the lion's den, innocence, pure motives, protects us in times of challenge. Attempts of animal magnetism, erroneous attacks, wants us to take the bait of believing we can be unprotected, ungoverned, or misrepresented in some way and cause us harm.  I know only the Christ is attracted to man, woman, child.  Nothing else!  Only the light of the Christ shines on mankind and the universe illuminating our thought and actions each moment, as well as the actions of others.  We are always protected, safe.  So whatever is  the activity, God is there, loving and cherishing you and everyone.  Know it, live it.  Watch it in action.  Don't settle for all the bad news as the truth for mankind.  There is a higher law of harmony and protection for all!  Declare it for the world. You need it, I need it, the children of the world need it! 

JOY by Elizabeth C. Adams

Arr. From L.van Beethoven

“Ode to Joy”

Father, we Thy loving children

Lift our hearts in joy today,

Knowing well that Thou wilt keep us

Ever in Thy blessed way.

Thou art Love and Thou art wisdom,

Thou art Life and Thou art All;

In Thy Spirit living, moving,

We shall neither faint nor fall.

Come we daily then, dear Father,

Open hearts and willing hands,

Eager ears, expectant, joyful,

Ready for Thy right commands.

We would hear no other voices,

We would heed no other call;

Thou alone art good and gracious,

Thou our Mind and Thou our All.

In Thy house securely dwelling,

Where Thy children live to bless,

Seeing only Thy creation,

We can share Thy happiness,

Share Thy joy and spend it freely.

Loyal hearts can feel no fear;

We Thy children know Thee, Father,

Love and Life forever near. 

     Hymn 58

Christian Science Hymnal

Forgiveness Heals! Love Yourself Enough!

Forgiveness for oneself and others brings immediate healing.  Children naturally understand the importance of compassion.  We can help them identify with the strengths they recognize in themselves while they learn to love what they feel challenges them.  To know that each of us have the tools to claim dominion and freedom from the mental attacks of criticism, blame, weakness, sadness, mistakes, loneliness, etc.  Being grateful for challenges is recognizing one can learn to go to God, yield to divine Mind, and see that the burden is light-the light of Truth in the midst of difficulty/darkness.  We are at one with these qualities of God: Love, Truth, Mind, Principle, Soul, Spirit, Life and can claim dominion over evil of any kind when we identify with these qualities each day. 

Let Your Armor Shine!

One night my 12 year old son asked me why he always feels like he has one challenge after another, and how it seems sometimes that his prayer isn’t effective.  I thought, how many times have we all asked that question. Recently he was on crutches for a knee injury that kept him out of sports, due to another team’s player wearing metal cleats during a scrimmage.  But then, after being unable to walk or bend his knee for a week and a half, he got up one Thursday morning and was able to walk and run and go to practice that afternoon.  He played in his next football game on Saturday, completely free.  

Two days later I received an urgent call to come to the field toward the end of his football practice.  He had been hit during a play, and was unable to get up. When I got to the field, he was on his stomach, crying out in pain.  The team trainer was there with one of the Assistant Coaches and a couple of moms, all trying to take care of him.  His team had finished practice, and were getting group pictures taken.  The trainer began giving me a long list of possible injuries, admitting that he really couldn’t tell the severity of the injuries. He did his best to make me aware of what I could potentially expect. 

I listened to what he said, declaring mentally that God knew the truth of man’s being and refuting that human opinion could have any ill effect on God’s man.  I immediately spoke to my son, knowing that the appearance of pain and injury was not the truth of his expression.  He had never been out of God’s care.  He was in the everlasting arms of Love, around, beneath, above.  He was able to stand up, even though it seemed very painful for him.  The trainer was amazed and said it was the most amazing thing he had seen (given his long list of diagnosis).  He also told me several times that the only explanation was that it must be all psychological on my son’s part.   I was able to get him home, cleaned up and comfortable.  I called a Christian Science Practitioner and asked for Christian Science treatment for my son.  

My son told me that before he hit the ground during practice that day, he declared that God was right there with him and that he was protected by his spiritual armor.  He was referring to the Bible, in the book of Ephesians 6:11-17 NRSV, where it says, “Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh...Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness.  As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.  With all of these take the shield of faith...Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”  He had an understanding and expectation of that protection.

In answer to his question about always feeling challenged, I relayed this analogy.  There is a movie called “A Knight’s Tale” where the main character, a peasant who works for a knight, puts on the knight’s armor when he can no longer compete, in order to finish the  jousting tournaments.  The armor serves its purpose when he is getting started, but it becomes damaged.  When he takes it to get repaired, he finds that new armor is what he needs.  The old armor served its purpose, but as he became more skilled and knowledgable, or more challenged, in this work he would require armor that suited him better.  

So when we feel challenged, we can think of it as getting fitted for new armor.   As we grow in our understanding of our relationship with God, we get opportunities to prove our understanding and oneness with God.  Each opportunity can make our expectation for good stronger and our demonstration of the protection and guidance of Divine Love become so natural and effortless that we learn to be grateful for the good that comes from each challenge. 

This quote from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, reminds me of the armor that is our protection.  “At all times and under all circumstances, overcome evil with good.  Know thyself, and God will supply the wisdom and the occasion for a victory over evil.  Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you.” page 571. 

“Neither organic inaction nor over-action is beyond God’s control;” Mary Baker Eddy writes in her book Science and Health page 125.  She also states in the Preface, “Many imagine that the phenomena of physical healing in Christian Science present only a phase of the action of the human mind, which action in some unexplained way results in the cure of disease.” “The physical healing of Christian Science results now, as in Jesus’ time, from the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to reformation.”  

Be sure to affirm the good you are already doing, with humility, knowing that is your armor because it reflects God, good. God is All-in-all. Stand firm in your understanding of Truth, allowing God to show you every step.  Walk with Love.  Guard against the arguments of time, matter, human opinions, doubt, fear, and human history.  Know that God’s work is done, and as the first chapter of Genesis declares, “Behold it was very good.”  

These hymns from the Christian Science Hymnal are comforting reminders:

Eternal Mind the Potter is,
And thought th' eternal clay:
The hand that fashions is divine,
His works pass not away.
Man is the noblest work of God,
His beauty, power and grace,
Immortal; perfect as his Mind
Reflected face to face.

God could not make imperfect man
His model infinite;
Unhallowed thought He could not plan,
Love's work and Love must fit.
Life, Truth and Love the pattern make,
Christ is the perfect heir;
The clouds of sense roll back, and show
The form divinely fair.

God's will is done; His kingdom come;
The Potter's work is plain.
The longing to be good and true
Has brought the light again.
And man does stand as God's own child,
The image of His love.
Let gladness ring from every tongue,
And heaven and earth approve.

by:  Mary Alice Dayton

Everlasting arms of Love
Are beneath, around, above;
God it is who bears us on,
His the arm we lean upon.

He our ever-present guide
Faithful is, whate'er betide;
Gladly then we journey on,
With His arm to lean upon.

From earth's fears and vain alarms
Safe in His encircling arms,
He will keep us all the way,
God, our refuge, strength and stay.

by John R. Macduff

I am so grateful for the opportunity to witness this healing, and for my son’s firm understanding and confidence in his relationship with his Father-Mother-God.

What Does The Face of Harmony Look Like

I asked a group of children ages 9-14, recently, how they could recognize harmony in their day. They said when the opposite of harmony seems so real, they want to be able to do something about it.   This is what they said the face of Harmony, Divine Love in action, looks like to them: 

Opportunities to find good in what looks like a bad situation that allows me to change my attitude to be open to blessings.  

Recognizing error so I can shut the door on a teasing or tempting suggestion and see what is true about a me.

Incapable, unknowable, inadequate, angry, frustrated, sad, and turn it into qualities that are the real and true reflection of God which are complete, pure, safe, intelligent, capable, vital, clear thinking, peaceful, grateful.

Staying focused on me and my salvation, not recognizing the error and ways of salvation of others.  That is mental gossip, rolling around in my thought, pointing fingers at others.  But rather, keeping my thought higher, not getting trapped by error and taking the bait and reeling.

Strength and courage, without hate.

Innocence. Purity. God governed strength. Love. Seeing you the way God, Divine Love, sees you. 

God is the way and I am the will, not human will, but willing to listen for the Angel messages that give us the answers we need to hear.

roasting pig and lamb-sacrament vs. sacrifice

I am

Broken, inadequate, scared.

I am complete.

Sad, torn, gray.

I am vibrant.

Unworthy, unable, unnecessary.

I am loved.

Murky, unsure, wilted.

I am pure.

I am the beloved child

of my Father-Mother-God.

I am the pure expression

of life, love, joy - whole and complete.

I am able to face down the evil

that tries to destroy me, convince me.

I am the beloved child of God.

I can hold his hand.

'Tude to a Different Tune

Saturday morning was a nonstop soccer day! Three children playing in three games for three hours. We had already watched two of them, and were onto the third game. While my husband was helping the coach, I sat on the sidelines with two of our girls. Our youngest daughter, was getting hungry and a little cranky and all the snacks had been depleted. I told her we would get lunch when the game was over, but she just kept being fussy and pouty.

She is normally very cheerful and easy-going, but she had gotten to a point where she wouldn’t respond to anything I said to her. I told her to come sit down in front of me, pointing to the spot I designated for her. When she came around to sit down, she went for my lap, instead of the ground in front of me to which I had pointed.

My first thought was to say no to her sitting on my lap. She had acted ugly and I wasn’t going to reward bad behavior. Plus, I was frustrated and wanted space. Then I realized what was needed was for me to embrace her and let Love melt away the anger. As soon as she sat down, I put my arms around her and she melted into me. Her usual sweetness and patience replaced the previous attitude. I was glad I had yielded to an expectation that Divine Love would provide the change needed.

I saw that those unkind and disrespectful qualities were not a part of her being. I knew that as a child of God, she could only reflect good qualities. That left no room for anything unlike God, Good.

In the Bible, in the book of Genesis, it says, “And God saw everything he had made, and behold it was very good.” It says, ‘very good’ not sometimes good. As we reflect that goodness, we prove God’s all-ness and ever-present help.

Even though I wanted to be mad for a little bit as well, God got in front of me and said I needed to handle the situation differently. God gave me the answers I needed at that very moment and all I had to do was listen and be obedient to that message.

When I look on it now, as I write, it seems so easy to just listen and obey a right idea. At the time human wills try to collide in a conversation, its tempting to hold on to the anger and frustration that gets worked up. Its really just as simple as turning on a light switch to see in a dark room. I could have stayed angry, had a public, fretful conversation. We’ve all heard parents have those conversations out in public before. Whether its public or private, I don’t want to let frustration or sarcasm take over the way I speak.

There is a saying, “If you want to hear the way you speak, listen to your children.” So the conversations I have with them should be an example of how they are to speak to other people. Effective communicators, with good morals and motives can have a positive affect on the world around them.

Mary Baker Eddy writes in her book Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures, “Divine Love always has met, and always will meet every human need.” Its a sentence I grew up with that provides comfort with an expectation of good answers.

We spent the rest of the game time cheering on the team, laughing and talking with her sister and our friends. The bad attitude left quicker than it came, and lunch came right after!